Short and Sweet Call–Shelter Cove VFD Able to Stabilize Local Surfer and Save His Wetsuit

Cheryl Antony Public Information Officer for Shelter Cove Volunteer Fire Dept. reported a surfing accident in the area today. She explained, “We got a call about 5 after noon today… . A 27 year old male from Fruitland Ridge in Southern Humboldt was surfing. The waves were big. The board got away from him and hit him on the jaw which caused a huge laceration.”

Luckily, Antony said, the man was surfing with friends and “someone managed to get cell reception. Someone else got him in a truck and we met them at the boat ramp with our ambulance. We were able to stop the bleeding. We considered an air ambulance but we thought it was too overcast for aircraft to land.”

The man, Antony said, was very grateful in part because the crews worked to protect his new wetsuit. “Between three or four of us,” Antony explained, “we were able to get him out of it without cutting it.”

An ambulance took the surfer to the hospital. “He had a very very sore jaw,” Antony said, “and I’m sure he was going to need many many sutures. His angel was on his shoulder. If that board had gone any lower, it would have gotten his carotid artery. We wouldn’t have been able to save him.” She reiterated how lucky he was to have had other surfers nearby. “They were able to call for help and get him out before he lost too much blood,” she said.

This, she said, was a “short and sweet call.” The VFD was able to quickly staunch the bleeding. “It could have been have been so much worse if he had been alone.”

The surfer, she explained, in the end was mostly “very bummed because the waves are supposed to good for the next several days and he won’t be able to be out there.”